Joe and his father Steve were spotted at the recent LS Fest and gained a lot of attention for their El Camino’s looks and performance. Project “Shop Rag” is a father/son project that is a few years in the making now. This is the car’s second time at Holley LS Fest, although the owner has been following the event since it began.
Steve started calling this El Camino “The Shop Rag”, and it just stuck with it over the years. The duo was only able to make progress on Monday nights, known as “Shop Nights” for the two. The goal was to make a cool street car, and the fun really began when they decided to give the car a 6.0L engine.
The 1965 El Camino sits on a stock frame, with Chevy 12-bolt rearend. This build is powered by a stock bottom end LQ4 engine with MSD 6010 ignition controller. The work they’ve done to the engine includes changing the rod bolts to ARP rod bolts, installing a Comp Thumper cam, giving it a pair of CNC machined LS3 heads, installed a double-roller timing set, and its oil system is fed by a Melling oil pump. It has a Proform 850 carburetor, Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake manifold, and Edelbrock headers. The engine is backed by a Turbo 400 automatic transmission with PTC torque converter and B&M ratchet shifter.
The fun doesn’t stop there with the father/son duo. They use a 1998 school bus/short bus to as a tow rig they are converting into an RV style vehicle, they hope to have it fully done by the next LS Fest. This 6.5L turbodiesel powered bus catches just as much attention as a tow pig as the El Camino. With turned up boost and straight pipe, this short bus is used to pull around the car trailer with Project Shop Rag inside.
Shawn Henry is a Texas native who has spent the majority of his career building and selling F-Bodies and Corvettes. Now studying journalism, he is taking a new direction with his love of performance vehicles.
